Men's and women's soccer squads clinch league titles

By Blake Twisselman

MEN'S SOCCER

Santa Clara 2, San Diego 0

The men's soccer team clinched the conference championship last Saturday at Buck Shaw Stadium with an impressive victory against the San Diego Toreros. Junior forward Will Weatherly scored what proved to be the game-winning goal after converting a penalty kick in the 52nd minute.

Weatherly's performance helped him earn West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors.

Freshman midfielder Tannen Wels banged in an insurance goal in the 60th minute of play, and the Bronco defense held on to claim the team's ninth WCC title in school history.

Junior goalkeeper Steve Cronin made two saves and recorded his seventh shutout this season. Santa Clara (13-2-3 overall, 5-0-0 in conference) will look to become the first team in WCC history to go 6-0-0 in league play this Saturday at Loyola Marymount.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Santa Clara 5, Gonzaga 1

The Broncos (12-3-5 overall, 6-0-1 in conference) capped off an undefeated conference season and earned their third consecutive WCC title with last Saturday's triumph over the Bulldogs in Spokane, Wash.

Junior Leslie Osborne assisted teammate Tiffany Roberts for Santa Clara's first goal of the contest.

Junior Bree Horvath scored her fifth goal of the season to put the Broncos up 2-0 at halftime.

Osborne scored her team-leading 11th goal of the season, and freshman forward Tina Estrada added two second-half goals to put the game out of reach.

Santa Clara out-shot the Bulldogs 17-3, as keepers Julie Ryder and Alyssa Sobolik split time in goal to preserve the victory. This year's team became the seventh Santa Clara team to win the overall league championship, and the fourth Bronco squad to finish with an undefeated conference record.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Santa Clara 3, San Diego 1

The Broncos improved to 17-8 overall and 8-2 in WCC play with a decisive conference victory last Saturday against the Toreros.

Senior Kelli Sousa sparked the offensive attack with 57 assists.

Senior Becky Potter registered 23 kills, while sophomore Toni Muratore added 18 kills and Cassie Perret had 10 kills of her own.

Sophomore Alyssa Lantz had 14 digs and senior Becky Biniek totaled six block assists to highlight the Bronco defense.

Santa Clara moved up to second place in the conference standings and will look forward to road games against Saint Mary's and San Francisco this weekend.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

San Francisco Bay Area Pro-Am 91, Santa Clara 74

Junior guard Quinn Thomas led all Broncos with 19 points, but Santa Clara couldn't pull out the victory in the exhibition contest last Wednesday at the Leavey Center.

Junior transfer Michelle Cozad scored 13 points in her first game as a Bronco, while seniors Jennie Rondel and Whitney Sutak also scored double-digit points.

Seven new players saw action, but all-conference guard Kayla Huss did not play. Santa Clara has one more exhibition game on the schedule before they open up non-conference play against UW-Green Bay on Nov. 23.

WOMEN'S GOLF

Kent Youel Invitational

Santa Clara finished 15th out of 17 teams in the Kent Youel Invitational last Thursday at the Kaplei Golf Course in Oahu, Hawaii.

Sophomore Courtney Dimpel-Composti and Samantha Trask each shot 5-over-par 77s to mark the best single-day rounds for Santa Clara golfers.

Dimpel-Composti finished with a three-round total of 232, which was good enough for 34th place.

Freshman Candice Palmer finished in a tie for 52nd place, while freshman Meggie Fagundes finished in a tie for 56th place and Trask finished in a tie for 64th place. Santa Clara will return to action on Feb. 17 for the Bay Area Classic.

CREW

Redhead Regatta

The women's varsity four A boat claimed victory by one-tenth of a second to highlight action in the Redhead Regatta last Saturday in Redwood Shores.

The Broncos entered two men's boats and three women's boats in the competition.

The men's eight man A boat saw their first competition of the season, and finished in third place behind Saint Mary's and Cal-Berkeley's lightweight boat.

The men's B boat finished in fourth place while the women's B boat finished in third place.

The men and the women will return to action for the Head of the Foster City Lagoon this Sunday in Foster City.